Category: Science & Tech

While many scientists have long held that Mars is “geologically dead” inside, new research is adding to the growing body of evidence to the contrary.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Science Advances, an international team of researchers examined data collected by the European and Russian ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in 2021, which found that Mars is slowly belching hydrogen chloride gas. The researchers suggest this gas is being released from hot magma deep beneath its surface after discovering intriguing new fissures along a massive volcano, indicating the planet may be geologically active after all — or at least it was until relatively recently.

The research could have significant implications for the possibility of ancient life on the Red Planet, hinting at a far warmer and thicker atmosphere — and an abundance of liquid water on its surface — in its not-too-distant past.

“Our findings suggest that Mars has retained enough internal heat to support volcanic activity until recently, and possibly still does,” said colead author and Polish Academy of Sciences professor Daniel Mège in a statement about the research.

While scientists have long observed variations in hydrogen chloride emissions across the Red Planet that coincide with its seasons, they were puzzled by spikes that occurred in unexpected places and at unusual times. More specifically, they observed spikes around the flanks of the Alba Mons, the biggest volcano on Mars in terms of surface area.

The team discovered new fissures measuring thousands of feet in length around the region, suggesting ongoing activity underneath the surface. The researchers discovered discolorations along these fissures, concluding that they may be the result of seeping gases leaving mineral deposits similar to volcanic gas vents on Earth.

“The Trace Gas Orbiter was able to find the smoking gun,” Mège said. “It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s truly amazing that it spotted a handful of molecules from a perhaps intermittent source, whilst moving continuously along its orbit to monitor the whole martian atmosphere.”

The fissures could also be a perfect place to find evidence of past life on the Red Planet.

“Looking for martian life in the seeping fissures of the Alba Mons region would make a lot of sense,” Mège argued. “If hydrothermal systems are active, they could contain the ingredients and energy needed for microorganisms to develop, and shield microorganisms from the hostile and changing environment above the surface.”

More on Mars: Scientists Intrigued by “Negative Mass Anomaly” Under Surface of Mars

The Fitbit Edge has one obvious missing feature, NFC for wireless payments. But Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Fit4 may well have it according to the latest leaks.

As spotted by SamMobile, leaked screenshots of the Samsung Galaxy Fit4’s app interface suggest Samsung’s next Edge alternative is likely to have it.

The screenshots show an entry for a Wallet feature, implying NFC will be on-board.

It’s notable not just because the feature is not present in the Fitbit Edge, but because it is not seen in the Samsung Galaxy Fit3 from 2024 either.

Google’s excuse for leaving it out of the Fitbit Edge, when it was present in the Fitbit Charge 6, was that fewer than one per cent of owners actually used it. I see plenty of folks using an Apple Watch for wireless payments or public transport tap-ins, but other wearables? I have very little sense of how often NFC is actually used.

One other interpretation is Google wants to shave every cent it can off the Fitbit Edge’s manufacturing cost. But then again it absolutely was not stingy in other areas. An Edge has a barometric altimeter, dual temperature sensors and ECG capability — I would not be surprised if the Samsung Galaxy Fit4 lacks all of these.

Fitbit Edge Versus Galaxy Fit4

Last month Android Authority posted leaked renders of the wearable, which appear to show it’s very similar to the Fit3 on sale today. This suggests it’s going to be a GPS-free tracker, one likely to sell as a much lower cost than the Fitbit Edge. The Fit3 currently sells for just $57.99 online.

There’s a complicating factor here, though. The Fit4 went through FCC certification in August, and that filing made no mention of NFC, just its Bluetooth 5.4 credentials. NFC is by no means confirmed for the tracker, and it could potentially be a feature only seen in some markets, rather than globally.

The next big question: when will the Samsung Galaxy Fit4 arrive? It can’t be long given a listing for the device’s Manager app — used by Samsung wearables — has appeared on the Galaxy Store already.

Other features you can expect from the Samsung Galaxy Fit4 include an OLED display, long battery life approaching two weeks and 5ATM water resistnace, all of which are found in the Fit3 and are standard for the category. The big question: is the Fitbit Edge worth up to $100 more?

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

Rockstar may officially release GTA 6 on PC soon after console over concern about AI-generated clones, one former developer has said.

In an interview with IGN sister site RPS, former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij said that Rockstar Games may be keen to port GTA 6 to PC as soon as possible, due to the explosion of AI-generated clones and ports.

People are using AI to create clones of popular games and release them on platforms they’re not normally available on. We’ve seen everything from Minecraft playable on X/Twitter to modders shoving Minecraft and Elden Ring together. Indeed, last month, Rockstar’s own Grand Theft Auto 5 was made playable in a browser before it was pulled offline.

Seemingly in response, Anthropic issued an update for Claude that made it harder for people to use the AI model to generate video game clones, but concern that GTA 6 could pop up on PC soon after it hits PlayStation and Xbox remains.

There is also concern around the security of the PS5, with Sony seemingly engaged in a game of Whac-a-Mole with hackers who are trying to jailbreak the latest firmware ahead of the release of GTA 6. This in turn has sparked concern that if a PS5 jailbreak is made available for the firmware that is required by GTA 6 to run, then it may be possible for Rockstar’s game to be pirated on PS5 and maybe even made available on PC.

“[Generative AI] really has changed the world,” Vermeij said, “and I think I would be concerned, if I was Rockstar, that somebody would just take the PS5 version and get AI to change it to PC, which won’t be as good as their effort, but it could still also hurt their sales. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an effort to get [the releases] a little bit closer together. Obviously, I don’t really know what they’re thinking.

“I don’t really see how you could protect against that, to be honest. I don’t see it. But a big company like Take-Two, they would be able to get the lawyers on the case, and for a big game, maybe the AI doesn’t really do a particularly good job.

“But yeah, I mean, it’s a brave new world. What was the case before, is that there’s so much effort in developing the game, that it is not possible to rip it off, and that’s completely changed now. So, yeah, we’re going to have to see in the next couple of years how that’s going to pan out.”

In October, GamesBeat reported that Rockstar was indeed planning to release GTA 6 on PC during the first quarter of 2027. Rockstar and parent company Take-Two did not comment on the report.

If true, it would mean GTA 6 hitting PC just a few months after it launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on November 19, 2026. Some had anticipated a longer wait for the game on PC, given it took nearly two years for GTA 5 to launch on PC after consoles.

The PC launch may tie into the release of GTA 6’s multiplayer mode, which fans are calling GTA Online 2 while they wait for official word from Rockstar. While Rockstar has yet to confirm an online mode for GTA 6, last month Twitch boss Dan Clancy said GTA Online 2 — or whatever GTA 6’s multiplayer mode is called — will launch next year.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has always responded with vague comments when asked about the prospect of launching GTA 6 on PC, pointing to Rockstar for announcements. In May, Zelnick told Bloomberg that Rockstar “always starts on console because I think with regard to a release like that you’re judged by serving the core. Like really serving the core consumer. If your core consumer isn’t there, if they’re not served first and best, you kind of don’t hit your other consumers.”

Red Dead Redemption, GTA 5, LA Noire, Max Payne 3, and Red Dead Redemption 2 all came to PC after consoles. And while GTA’s core audience may be on console, it has a huge fanbase of active players on PC, fueled by GTA Online and role-play servers.

We’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including an unlikely gameplay reveal in the latest episode of South Park, how GTA 6 named one of its biggest mechanics after a beloved GTA 4 meme, and how GTA 6’s map will open up relatively early and let you explore freely.

Analysts expect GTA 6 will make over $5 billion in launch week alone. GTA 6 is scheduled to be released on November 19, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S.

Kirk McKeand is a Contributor on IGN News. Find him on Twitter @MckKirk

Billions of dollars of crypto stolen — in a hack that we’re now learning involved corporate vibe coding efforts. You couldn’t come up with a more quintessential cautionary tale for an era when employers are embracing AI at every level.

After hackers drained nearly $6.3 billion from the crypto platform, Binance has revealed how the thieves pulled off what might be the heist of the century.

In a detailed report on its investigation published Tuesday, the company described an elaborate scheme that took place over months involving sham job interviews, old-fashioned phishing, and — yes — a hijacked AI tool.

It began in June when an employee on Binance’s wallet developer team thought they’d indulge in some vibe coding by installing a popular AI coding tool. But they ended up downloading a tampered installation of Homebrew, a tool that’s popular with software engineers, after clicking a malicious ad. Binance said it detected the anomaly, replaced the device, and changed relevant credentials. 

So far so good, except that the attack exposed the role of the employee and his colleagues on the wallet team to the hackers, giving them the opening they needed. From there, some classic social engineering went into play. A hacker, posing as a project director, reached out to another software engineer through a legitimate job-hunting platform to offer an interview first with an “HR representative” and then the “CEO” of a fake company.

The fraudsters then earned the employee’s trust by sharing a social media account with personal photos and videos, something that Binance said “was more advanced and deceptive than previously seen social engineering approaches.” (It’s unclear from the report, but perhaps these were fabricated with AI, adding another element of AI menace to this story.)

Crucially, the follow-up interview was conducted over text. The engineer was asked to complete and download an “assignment” that contained malicious code that instantly executed once the employee began installing it. Among the things it changed was replacing a real development tool with a malicious version that could communicate with the hackers and execute commands.

That all took place in September. Starting in October, the hacker used the compromised employee machine to leverage an internal AI tool and use it as a “springboard” to seize control of the computer and the computer of a third wallet developer. From there, they used credentials stolen from the first wallet team employee to log into the third employee’s computer and trigger a malicious script that launched the attack.

In all, the attack siphoned 233.46 million XRP, a form of crypto, from five wallets into the hacker’s wallets, and then plundered other forms of crypto including bitcoin, in what may well have been the most lucrative heist of all time.

The culprits remain unclear. The FBI immediately blamed a notorious North Korean hacking outfit, but Pyongyang has denied involvement. Binance, in its report, noted that it had thwarted “57 suspected North Korea-linked cyber threat cases” — up until the big one that breached their defenses, at least.

More on cybersecurity: Residents Horrified as Hackers Seize Control of Emergency Alert System and Warn of Incoming Nuclear Attack

inMusic, the parent company of Akai, Moog, Native Instruments, and more, has decided to embrace the modding community. In an interview with The Verge, inMusic CEO Jack O’Donnell said, “We’re going to provide a toolbox to the community, we’re going to provide the inner workings of, say, an MPC or Sample so that people can do what they want.” That “toolbox” includes making the code for devices like the recently teased MPC Sample Key open source, but also offering developers an SDK to make modifications easier and lessen the risk of bricking your beloved sampler.

While Akai is eager to see what the modding community cooks up, and has started seeding devices to developers ahead of the official release of the Sample Key, the company takes reliability seriously. O’Donnell said the company wants to “make sure that our official software is completely stable and good for an artist on stage.” He can’t have Fred Again going on stage and discovering his MPC is riddled with bugs. But he also wants people to feel comfortable tinkering. “We’ll try to give them a reset button,” he said so “They can experiment with it, and then not lose what they have.”

The company is planning to make a big splash NAMM, the annual convention of music manufacturers in Anaheim, with Creator Lab, where it will let technically curious musicians get some hands-on time hacking 22 new products from across its brands. That includes products from Moog, that might not seem like a natural pairing for vibe coding because of its analog design. But O’Donnell thinks it can be, “if we open it up correctly.” That will involve building a platform for devs to work around the analog parts of the circuit.

Other companies have also embraced the modding community. Erica Synths recently released the source code for its LXR-02 drum machine, Polyend open-sourced its line of Tracker grooveboxes, and Behringer has also announced a slew of open-source devices, including a $150 clone of the MPC One called Kick, a clone of the E-mu SP-1200, the Anima DJ controller, the Ignite sequencer, and the Polykeys 61 MIDI controller.

The change in the industry has been quick and seismic. O’Donnell said of the need to provide developers tools for hacking inMusic’s products, “I can tell you it wasn’t on our task list five weeks ago. It just all of a sudden has to be on a task list now.”

Of course, not everyone is thrilled. Elektron has expressed mixed feelings about the emergence of vibe-coded mods. The company banned linking to hacks and modified firmware from its official forums, though not discussing them generally, citing concerns about the possibility of damaging instruments. A statement posted on its forums says: “We would always warn against modifications to our firmware and/or machines that could brick them (potentially rendering them unusable), prevent future updates, affect warranty coverage.”

While Elektron doesn’t want people posting links to hacked Digitone firmware on its forums, it’s not actively trying to thwart the modding community. The consensus is there’s no going back now that vibe coding has upended the music gear world, and trying to stand in the way would be a mistake. inMusic’s O’Donnell told the Verge, “you can try to wall them off, which is just a losing battle one … and so we want to embrace them.”

In March, legacy content farm BuzzFeed conceded that there was “substantial doubt” about its “ability to continue” doing business. At the time, the company was reporting a net loss of $57.3 million for 2025, suggesting former CEO Jonah Peretti’s controversial decision to double down on AI content had officially blown up in his face.

Months later, it’s looking like BuzzFeed’s fears are coming true. A brief glimpse at its stock price this morning paints a horrifying picture [nice] after its grim Q3 earnings report: its stock price fell off a cliff, sinking to $0.57 from a high of $2.09 earlier this year — a nausea-inducing 38 percent drop in a single morning.

The company’s earnings per share (EPS) of negative $0.22, 13 cents worse than analysts’ already-gloomy expectations, clearly had investors spooked. That’s despite drumming up some muted enthusiasm back in May, after TV personality Byron Allen’s family affiliate company bought a majority stake in BuzzFeed. Peretti, who has for years been singing the praises of AI and announced a slew of ill-conceived apps powered by the tech, came away with the flashy new title of “president of BuzzFeed AI.”

“Our vision is to build on the iconic foundation of BuzzFeed and HuffPost by expanding into free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content,” Allen, who owns 13 network affiliate TV stations, proudly announced at the time. “As of this moment, with the power of AI, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube to become another premiere free video streaming service.”

Establishing a free video streaming service at a time when even Google is admitting that ad revenues are plummeting thanks to AI takes some chutzpah, to say the least. But considering that BuzzFeed continues to hemorrhage money — it laid off 33 percent of its remaining staff roughly two months after Allen took over — it feels more like BuzzFeed is chasing MySpace, straight into the abyss.

BuzzFeed first started embracing AI back in 2023 after the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, using the tech to roll out forgettable quizzes and strange AI-generated travel guides that caught a world of flak. Since then, there’s never been a moment when the gamble hasn’t felt like a major unforced error.

In May, shortly after Byron’s acquisition, Peretti sat down with The Verge for an interview in which he enthused that AI was the thing he was “most passionate about.” He claimed that there was a “shift” in digital media “where AI is going to start creating a new medium for content that wasn’t really possible before.”

Needless to say, we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet.

More on BuzzFeed: BuzzFeed Lays Off 33 Percent of Remaining Staff After Bizarre Pivot to AI

Huge numbers of kids are turning to AI for schoolwork and emotional support — habits that are linked to poor mental health and suicidal ideation.

According to a new survey by the mental health advocacy group JED Foundation, 90 percent of nine to 17 year olds have used an AI chatbot. The majority of them, 58 percent, said they use AI for schoolwork. And nearly the same portion, 57 percent, said they also use AI when feeling sad, stressed, lonely, or overwhelmed.

“It seems like just a few years ago, no one was using” AI, Anne Maheux, a developmental psychologist at the University of North Caroline, Chapel Hill, who wasn’t involved in the work, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “And now it seems like roughly the same number of kids using it for homework are using it to get emotional support or help with coping.”

Sometimes, their AI interactions go beyond emotional support. More than one in 10 students, or 12 percent, said they used AI for friendship or companionship. Other studies paint the same picture: in a survey last year, nearly one in five high schoolers said they or a friend have used AI to have a romantic relationship. 

AI as an educative — or cheating — machine may be in part intertwined with its emotional support. A 15-year-old named Arjun Sharda, in Texas, provided a typical example.

“With tests, for example,” he told OPB, “I was so scared of failing one of my first chemistry tests on conversions and moles that I kept asking ChatGPT ‘Will I be OK? Will my GPA still be fine?’”

If children and teenagers using AI for support is the norm, the question becomes what this dependence on the tools means for their mental health. At such a vulnerable and formative time in their lives, it’s critical that they’re receiving the right guidance and have people with whom they feel safe to discuss their emotions with. But as we’ve often seen, AI often only provides an ersatz substitute of the latter, acting as a sycophantic confidante that can exacerbate or confirm a user’s worst neuroses, in a phenomenon that many experts are calling AI psychosis. The advice it does offer can often be bad or dangerous. In extreme cases, some users have even taken their own lives after extensive emotional conversations with a chatbot.   

The JED survey, on this front, found some alarming links.

“We were able to look at how young people are using AI and then how that correlates separately with indicators of well-being, history of suicidal ideation and attempts, and poor mental health,” psychologist Kayla Anderson, vice president of research and evaluation at the JED Foundation, told OPB.

“When young people are using AI, when they’re in emotional distress they’re more likely to report poor mental health and well-being outcomes,” she said, while also reporting a greater history of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Anderson cautioned, however, that there isn’t enough evidence to establish causation.

“It’s unclear, based on these data, whether AI use is contributing to poor mental health and well-being, or whether students who are already in distress in certain ways are more likely to turn to AI,” Anderson said.

Maheux, pointing to other research, suggests that both may be true.

“So kids who do have worse mental health are seeking out AI to help them,” she told OPB. “But that AI use may be exacerbating those mental health challenges instead of helping.”

AI chatbots, in a sense, may be acting like emotional training wheels — only they’re so addictive that the people who depend on them never want to take them off. As a result, they never develop the skills to handle the daily stresses of life, leaving them vulnerable and unprepared.

More on AI: ChatGPT Is Building Detailed Psychological Profiles of Its Users

Everyone always complains about how long Halloweekend goes on (we, personally, hope it never falls on a Saturday again), but as soon as the calendar hit Nov. 1, everyone put away their stage blood and fake fangs and dusted off their favorite scarves and fur-trimmed jackets. The weather in New York is not giving fall — an outerwear-themed party on a 60-degree night is unusual — but we persevered in the name of kicking off what is going to be a long holiday season. The theme of this week was staying inside even if you were outside, with cozy dinner parties, house gatherings, and collection launches that made us feel right at home despite being a few drinks deep and downtown. See where we landed this week and how the party set dressed for the pre-December yuletide merriment below.

Christopher John Rogers & The Rug Company Give Us That Fuzzy Feeling

Few designers are world-building like Rogers. Not only is his ready-to-wear line accomplished and selling, but he’s done J.Crew collabs, made paint, wallpaper, chairs, and now, area rugs made in partnership with The Rug Company. The resulting collection, “The Studio,” is all about the trace of a human hand and imperefections, and it got its due shine at The Rug Company’s creative director Will Cooper’s studio, where friends of Rogers’ all took time enjoying a mid-week catchup, taking a Jell-O shot, eating tarts, and using the area rugs as backdrops.

A Homey Toast To Aritzia

There is no modern host in New York that can bring together uptown, downtown, and out-of-towners quite like Athena Calderone. She graciously opened her stunning Tribeca home to Aritzia and friends for a night of gift-giving, perfectly realized light bites (she does a gourmet spread so well), and live caricature drawings.

Cabin Fever With Kanuk

It’s getting Canadian up in here. While we anxiously await the second season of Heated Rivalry, we have a fiesty winter to get through, and star of the show and native Canadian Sophie Nélisse played host for Kanuk’s campaign-launch dinner. For one night, Tribeca’s Square Diner was a Quebecois cabin complete with pine trees, taffy, and lots of martinis, with sounds by Francesca Keller and cozy vibes by the outerwear experts at Kanuk.

Raffles, Meet Raf’s

Raffles is like the Rolls Royce of hotels, and its exquisite taste now includes an ecommerce platform, The Little Shop by Raffles. In a brand-name kismet moment, Raf’s played host to Raffles on a particularly balmy New York night where Adut Akech and Carolyn Murphy explored the offerings now available online, including a Ginori 1735 collaboration and sublime pajamas inspired by the original Raffles in Singapore.